


Left Behind

by MinLu



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Angst, Emotions, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Modern Era, Past Character Death, Post-Canon, Romance, Shichinintai | Band of Seven, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:13:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27781309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MinLu/pseuds/MinLu
Summary: Kagome Higurashi thought that she would never see her friends from the Sengoku Jidai again. But when she finds a familiar face nearly half-dead in an alleyway, she discovers that her adventures in time-traveling were not quite over yet.12/11: BEING REWRITTEN UNTIL IM SATISFIED
Relationships: Bankotsu/Higurashi Kagome
Kudos: 9





	Left Behind

**Author's Note:**

> So honestly, I was really unhappy with how my other BanKag fic started out, so I decided to scrap that plot for the time being and play around with a setting/storyline I’m more comfortable with writing. 
> 
> I hope this does the pairing a bit more justice. I might come back to rewrite P7 later, so if you were holding out for that, then don’t freak out.
> 
> Note: Bankotsu is aged up so that he’s around 20-22 ish in this fic
> 
> 12/11 edit: so I realize my ability as a writer to make a cohesive plot structure sucks balls, in addition to Bankotsu’s characterization also sucking balls which is unlike me, I typically pride myself in being able to keep things in character. 
> 
> tl;dr I’ll be revising the first three chapters so that the plot actually makes sense
> 
> for now, enjoy my crappy first draft while it’s still here

Releasing a loud sigh as she entered her apartment, twenty-year-old Kagome Higurashi dumped her gaudy yellow backpack on the carpet and collapsed in a heap on the floor. The autumn sun was setting over the horizon out her large back windows, and her lesson notes from her college classes were sprawled over the low coffee table in the center of her living space. Leaning up against the wall in a forgotten corner of the room was Kagome’s only proof of her travels through time, the red wooden longbow she had acquired from Kikyō to use in her final battle against Naraku. 

Kagome got up and wandered to the balcony in the back of her apartment, which overlooked a deserted alleyway located in between the apartment complex and the neighboring building. Pushing the sliding glass doors open, she stepped out into the evening air, inhaling the polluted wind which blew through the modern era, three years after the former high school time traveler’s journey ended with the permanent sealing of the bone eaters well. Since then, she had managed to make it into the local university where she and her three friends had taken exams and started living on her own at a small apartment close to the campus grounds. Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka had never been able to figure out what had troubled their friend so much after getting into university, and slowly drifted away over time, as Kagome began to isolate herself after the loss of her companions. 

A glimpse of refracted light in her peripheral vision snapped the girl out of her reverie, and her gaze drifted down to the alleyway at her feet. Her jaw went slack and her eyes as wide as saucers when she noticed what had distracted her— a massive double-edged blade attached to a polearm with a crescent-shaped pommel: Banryū. Shaking her head, Kagome rubbed her eyes and opened them again, confirming that she wasn’t hallucinating. Upon second glance, she noticed the bloodied hand which was grasping the hilt, her gaze following the bruised limb up to a broad armored torso, and further upwards to a handsome face framed with dark black locks of hair which were pulled back into a thin braid which trailed down the man’s back. A violet four-pointed star shape was painted onto his forehead, and Kagome immediately recognized the appearance of her defeated enemy, Bankotsu. Broken arrows were stuck out of his tanned flesh like thorns, and his entire body was bathed in his own scarlet blood. Gaping at the sight of the man’s wounded state, Kagome rushed out of her apartment and into the alleyway, kneeling beside him.

“B-Bankotsu?” she stuttered out, still in disbelief at seeing him again. The mercenary stirred at his name being called and tentatively opened his eyes, staring back at a pair of concerned brown orbs with his own cobalt irises. Immediately struck by a wave of pain, he groaned and tried to move, unfamiliar with his surroundings. Laying back down defeatedly, he shut his eyes again and clutched his halberd tightly. 

Confused as to how he could be in her time, or even alive for that matter, Kagome looked over him carefully. His clothes were exactly as she remembered them, and when she reached out to brush her fingers over the cold metal, she ascertained that Banryū was a real weapon, not a costume prop. His facial marking was also unmistakable, so the teenage girl shut her eyes tightly and pinched her arm. Opening her eyes again, she found that nothing had changed about the situation, making her breath catch in her throat as she grappled with reality. She had no idea how he had come to be where he was now— the bone eater’s well was nowhere close to the alleyway where he lay, covered in wounds and unable to move an inch. One thing was for certain; he was severely injured and needed immediate medical attention. Being the kind-hearted girl she was, Kagome refused to leave him to die out in the cold autumn night, even if they were former enemies. 

Kicking herself into gear, Kagome bent down to sling his arm around her shoulder. “Can you stand?” she asked him as she pulled them both to their feet. Bankotsu grunted and leaned against her, stumbling before finding his balance and letting himself be carried up the building’s stairs and laid down in her entry hall. Crimson rivulets of life essence immediately pooled around his body and soaked her green carpet. “Wait here, and I will get my first aid kit.” 

‘Honestly,’ Kagome thought, as she pulled bandages and alcohol out of the small white box—which had been stashed away in her closet after her dangerous adventures ended—‘I should bring him to a hospital, but… I doubt he has the identification to get proper treatment.’ Gently pulling arrows out of his body as she unlatched his breastplate and shoulder guard, she undid the top half of his bloodstained white kosode and tried her best to stifle the bleeding. Bankotsu began to regain some of his consciousness as he felt her hands ghosting over his bare skin, wrapping his wounds in white bandages after disinfecting them with spray.

“That damned daimyō,” he croaked, then turned to look at the woman who was tending to his injuries. “Is this Hell?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. 

Kagome looked at him inquisitively. “No, this is real. I’m just as confused as you are. Inuyasha said you died for good.” 

“Inuyasha? Who’s that?” Bankotsu coughed. 

Raising her eyebrows in confusion, Kagome examined his appearance, taking note of the fact that he had no Shikon Jewel shards impaled in his flesh. “Inuyasha is the hanyō who…” she trailed off, realization dawning on her that Bankotsu didn’t remember her or Inuyasha. Attempting to confirm her suspicions, Kagome asked, “Do you remember what happened at Mt. Hakurei?” 

“Hakurei? Never been there.” He winced as Kagome doused a particularly painful injury in rubbing alcohol. “Tell me what’s going on, woman. The others— we were going to be executed, and then…” he went silent, unable to recall what had happened. 

Kagome frowned. ‘Does this mean these injuries are from the Shichinin-tai’s final battle where they were cornered by the daimyō and beheaded?’ she mused to herself, ‘That means that his revival by Naraku hasn’t even happened yet.’ Organizing her thoughts, Kagome took a deep breath. “Do you believe in time travel?” she asked, causing the teenage to bark out a disbelieving laugh. 

“Excuse me?” he demanded, suddenly noticing his surroundings, filled with unfamiliar sights and sounds. He’d never been anywhere like it. “Are you saying I time-traveled here?” 

Kagome bit her lip and nodded. “I time-traveled too. Three years ago, where I met you—ten years older than the current you. That’s why I recognize you,” she informed him. 

Groaning and pressing his fingers to his temples before wincing from the movement and putting his arms down again. “That’s confusing as hell,” he muttered, then examined Kagome closer. “Were you my woman? You’re pretty.” 

Blushing at his observation, Kagome shook her head in denial. “No, we were—” she stopped, deciding that it was best not to tell him that they were enemies. “It’s complicated, okay?” she confessed finally, before finishing the bandages on his body, “Just trust me.” 

Bankotsu frowned as he tried to sit up. Carefully leaning his back up against the wall, he scanned the room cautiously before returning his gaze to Kagome’s eyes. “I don’t trust anyone except for Jakotsu and myself,” he replied and scrunched his nose up, “But Jakotsu isn’t here right now, so it’s just me.” 

Kagome sighed. “Look, we didn’t have the greatest relationship. But right now, I just want to help you, and telling you what happened between us is just going to complicate things.” 

“So basically, we were enemies,” Bankotsu pointed out bluntly. Kagome stiffened, pinching her eyebrows together. Shrugging, Bankotsu rolled his eyes. “I’m a mercenary. I figure that any woman who wasn’t my lover or my bitch, was probably on the wrong side of my Banryū.” Bankotsu relaxed against the wall casually as Kagome flinched at his crude language. “Well? Am I wrong?” 

Kagome exhaled, and her shoulders dropped in resignation. “Yeah. You were trying to kill us,” she confirmed, then twitched and held her hands out in front of her defensively. “But I don’t have any reason to hold it against you right now, okay?” Bankotsu nodded in understanding, seeing the sincerity in her eyes. “For now, you need rest so that your injuries heal. You can lay on the couch. I’ll get you something to eat.” 

Bankotsu nodded, accepting her hospitality. He wasn’t sure why she wanted to help him, or what may have transpired between the girl and himself—ten years later—but he figured letting her take care of him was the best way to find his way back to his own time, though he questioned whether that was even worth it. Eyes darkening, Bankotsu recalled the sight of his six comrades' headless corpses, his stomach churning as he had prepared himself for his own decapitation. Shaking himself out of his stupor, he dragged himself into the living room and collapsed onto the long couch which faced the wooden coffee table and a black flatscreen TV. Staring at the strange furnishing curiously, he silently wondered how many years into the future he had traveled, and how. 

Kagome appeared in the doorway after a few seconds, with a mug filled with warm tea and a bowl of leftover canned soup. She set both dishes down on the coffee table before sitting down and crossed her legs, facing Bankotsu’s slumped form, her back to the TV. “So,” she laced her fingers together and shifted around nervously. “I assume you don’t know what happened after the daimyō ambushed you.” 

Bankotsu’s expression darkened again. “Kyokotsu, Mukotsu, Ginkotsu, Suikotsu, Renkotsu, Jakotsu… they were all beheaded.” 

Kagome nodded, registering that the other members of the Shichinin-tai were already dead. “Yes, you were too,” she added. Bankotsu blinked. Kagome looked at him cynically, weighing how much she wanted him to know about his own future. “All of the Shichinin-tai were executed, then buried at the base of Mt. Hakurei, where a grave was erected to calm their vengeful spirits.” 

Bankotsu snorted. “As if that could rectify what the daimyō did to us.” He sipped the herbal tea from the mug thoughtfully. “I thought you said you met me from ten years into the future?” 

“You were revived by a hanyō named Naraku and commanded to slay all of his enemies— though, in the end, I think Naraku just wanted to use you to stall for time until he could finish rebuilding his body,” Kagome observed the mercenary’s expression cautiously as she told her story. Nothing she ever did in the Sengoku Jidai had affected the modern era, so she assumed that telling Bankotsu what would have been his future wouldn’t affect her current timeline. ‘Especially since I don’t even know if he will be able to return…’ Kagome thought pessimistically. 

Bankotsu didn’t know how to respond to that. Setting an empty mug down on the coffee table and picking up the bowl of vegetable soup, he spoke up. “Do you know how to send me back?” 

Kagome shook her head, her shoulders slumping. “I’m sorry, Bankotsu. I haven’t been able to return to your time for three years. I’m afraid you’re stuck here until we can figure out how you time traveled in the first place.” 

Placing his bowl down, Bankotsu leaned forward and placed his bandaged hand on her shoulder comfortingly, before cringing in pain and quickly retracting his touch. “It’s not your fault,” Bankotsu shook his head. “Besides, maybe it’s for the better. According to you, if things had gone the way they should have, I’d be six feet under right now.” He released a nervous laugh, completely overwhelmed with the information. At the time, when he was on his knees in shackles before the daimyō, he had already made peace with the fact that he was going to die— but being told that you were  _ supposed _ to die and you didn’t? It made his stomach churn, knowing that his brothers had passed on, dying as honorable warriors in battle— leaving Bankotsu behind. 

Pursuing her lips at the mercenary’s apparent unease, Kagome stood up. “It’s getting late,” she said, “I’ll let you sleep on it. In the morning, we can talk more about what we’re going to do…” she trailed off, unsure of the situation herself. He was marooned in an unfamiliar place, without his family or friends to support him, and no clear direction. ‘Sort of reminds me of how I was when I first fell down the well,’ Kagome reminded herself, feeling nostalgic, ‘I should be there for him, just like Kaede was for me.’ Picking up his empty dishes and dropping them in the sink for her to wash later, she silently retired to her bedroom to mull over her new roommate. 

Bankotsu desperately tried to follow suit, the day’s exhaustion taking its toll, and his body eager to take advantage of the rare opportunity to rest in a comfortable environment on a full stomach without fear of being attacked in his sleep. However, still feeling the weight of his brother’s deaths, he curled up and clenched his fists as the sight of their severed heads appeared before him every time he tried to shut his eyes. After tossing and turning restlessly until the moon was high in the starry night sky, he finally drifted off to sleep, only to be assaulted by terrible nightmares about the Shichinin-tai’s final battle. 

Rays of sunlight peeked through the back windows of the apartment and stirred Bankotsu awake. He groaned and opened his eyelids drowsily, his gaze surveying the room. Judging by the sounds coming from the next room over, Kagome was already up. When the teenage boy tried to get up, he winced as the throbbing pain from his many wounds sprang up, shooting through his body like an electric shock. Mumbling curses and laying back down, he stared up at the white fan, which spun in lazy circles on the ceiling. Absentmindedly he wondered what would happen to him. ‘Will I ever be able to return to my time?’ he closed his eyes, feeling homesick. ‘Home… I don’t have a home anymore,’ he thought bitterly, ‘Not without Jakotsu and the others there with me.’ 

Suddenly appearing in the doorway of the living room with a plate of scrambled eggs and a glass of water, Kagome walked over and set the meal down on the coffee table before taking in Bankotsu’s wounded form. Upon glancing at his bare chest, in clear view as he basked in the morning sunlight, a pale pink tint colored her cheeks, and she shyly averted her eyes. “Erm, eat breakfast while I go see if I can borrow some clothes that will fit you from the neighbors,” she told him before hastily scuttling out the door. 

“Hey,” the mercenary interrupted her before she could leave, “Where is my Banryū?” 

Kagome looked quizzically back at the teenager over her shoulder, mulling over his question. “I can’t move it at all, so I’ll cover it with a sheet for the time being. No one goes down that way anyway,” she reassured him, backtracking to dig through the linen closet until she found a large dark purple fabric to hide the oversized halberd. “Just eat, okay? Focus on recuperating.” With that, she left the apartment, immediately making a beeline for the alleyway where she had found Bankotsu the night before. Taking notice of the blood splatters on the ground where he had laid—while she threw the purple sheet over his weapon—she wondered if she would have to do something about them. Shrugging, she figured that some dried blood in a deserted alleyway was not the most unusual sight in a low budget region of the city.

Quickly returning to the apartment complex, she rapped on her neighbor's door, which she knew was typically friendly and was always awake early. He opened the door immediately, having just finished his morning rituals, and was pleased to help Kagome by lending the girl one of his old white t-shirts and a pair of denim pants. With her mission accomplished, the girl returned to her apartment, immensely grateful that Bankotsu had already finished eating his breakfast. “Here,” she tossed him the shirt and jeans, “Put those on. I’ll be in the other room.” He nodded and started to strip, somewhat glad to be free of his dirty, bloodstained clothing, which he collected in a heap at the end of the couch. Pulling the shirt and pants on carefully, as not to irritate his injuries, he laid back down and exhaled. 

Kagome quickly returned from the kitchen and saw that he was dressed. The clothes were a bit baggy on his short stature, but that was to be expected from hand-me-downs. “So,” she started, leaning up against the doorway and looking at him thoughtfully. “You really have zero clues how you got here?” 

Bankotsu shrugged. “One minute I was waiting for the ax, and the next, I was here. I must have blacked out somewhere in between.” 

Processing the information, Kagome nodded, accepting that she would have to figure out how to live with him. Sighing, she thought back to her first stay with Lady Kaede. The old priestess had never complained about her intruding in her little hut and eating her food. Straightening her spine, Kagome told herself that she would do the same for Bankotsu— she would allow him to impose on her for as long as it was necessary. “I have classes today, so you’ll have to stay here alone while I’m gone. Let me show you how to use the kitchen and bathroom,” she told him, gesturing for him to stand up and follow her. Grunting due to the sudden movement, Bankotsu limped after her, nodding his head weakly as she gave him a tour of her home. After assuring her that he understood what she was saying, he laid back down and closed his eyes, silently thankful that he had someplace to stay.


End file.
